What makes a home extraordinary?
After visiting the world’s finest abodes for her new show, Caroline believes she finally has the answer…
Forget gadgets and luxe finishes, it’s love and laughter that make a house truly special, says Caroline Quentin
You may have recently seen me on BBC2 in The World’s Most Extraordinary Homes which, frankly, was a really great gig – not only because it gave me the opportunity to travel to countries as far-flung as New Zealand and Canada, but mainly because it provided a chance to have a proper nosey around other people’s houses.
I’ve always been a sucker for property programmes: Homes Under The Hammer, Location Location Location, Property Ladder, Grand Designs – you name it, I’ll grab a cup of tea and park myself on the sofa for an hour or three of guilt-free escapism. I also love shows that give me a glimpse at life in another country, preferably somewhere warm, like
A Place In The Sun. For an hour or so, I imagine myself living with a mountain view in Marbella, doing up a disused dairy in the Dordogne or reclining on a sunlounger on the Costa Blanca.
So when the BBC asked if I’d like to travel the globe with architect Piers Taylor to visit some of the best houses in the world, I grabbed my passport and headed for the airport, slamming the muddy backdoor of my little
Devon farmhouse behind me, without so much as a backward glance.
We visited some truly spectacular houses, including one built from a dismantled Boeing 747 in the Santa Monica mountains, an underground house on the side of a mountain in Switzerland and a retreat on a secluded Norwegian island.
For some, stainless steel and glass surfaces are important; for others, a stunning bathroom with a spectacular view is desirable; while many favour a state-of-the-art kitchen.
What it is it, though, that gives a house the X factor? Some of the most beautiful, innovative buildings are hard to relax in, while others, although they may look clinical and chilly, are actually welcoming. Function and form need to be balanced, but it’s more than that. What a TV programme can’t show is the ambience of a house. While on our road trip, Piers and I decided that what makes a home out of the ordinary is not just the architecture, the materials used, location or the view, it is the feeling a house gives you – the ‘soul’ of the place.
I was worried that on my return to Devon I might be tempted to compare my own house to the cutting-edge ones that I’d seen on my travels. I was pondering the notion of ‘the perfect house’ as I arrived home, travel-weary and jet-lagged. As I opened my (still) muddy backdoor, the first things I laid my eyes on were the knackered skirting boards in the hall – they were chewed by a teething puppy a couple of years ago and I haven’t got around to repainting them. I dragged my suitcase up the stairs (noting the threadbare carpet) and ran myself a bath and there, behind the wash basin, was the incompetent tiling I’d attempted after a very large gin and tonic.
So far, my home wasn’t comparing favourably with the houses on the show, but as I sank into the hot water, the sound of my husband and son laughing as they arrived home and kicking a football around outside drifted through the window, the dogs began barking with excitement and I could hear my daughter bounding upstairs to her bedroom, singing along to the radio at the top of her voice.
Gazing at the crack in the plaster above the shower head, it came to me that a house is just a house until we invest in it – not financially, but emotionally by filling it with what we love, whether that’s music or children, cats or cushions, silence or the sounds of the city, a pool table or a plasma screen.
One day soon, I’m sure I’ll repaint the skirting boards and get someone sober to tile the bathroom. Until then, I’m just going to thank my lucky stars that I have somewhere to call my home. It doesn’t matter if the paint is peeling and the radiators leak – when my house is filled with the sounds of laughter, barking and love, then, as far as I’m concerned, it’s a really extraordinary home.
‘A house is just a house until we invest emotion’